The Grading Game: birth of the “first person tutor”

The Grading Game is an addictive action word game centered around the pursuit and eradication of grammar and spelling errors. The game’s levels take the form of students’ papers, with a fresh set of errors generated for each play. Meanwhile, the papers themselves cover the most interesting and unusual topics, from the history of ramen to actual historical occurrences of raining cats and dogs!

The game, created by San Franciso-based modeofx, was conceived during a “game jab” that encouraged participants to create a first person shooter, a la “Call of Duty”. Rather than create yet another violent action game, they envisioned a game where a pen substitutes the gun. Instead of shooting marauding aliens, the player would “shoot” grammar and spelling errors. They called that prototype “First Person Tutor”, and liked it so much that they decided to make a full game experience around the idea.